El Cauca - Colombia | Medium Roast

Traceability of the Coffee

Roast Level- Medium Roast

Roaster Tasting Notes: Sweet and savory with caramel and citrus fruit

Variety: Castillo, Colombia, Caturra

Score: 87 points

Crop Year: 2024

Process: Washed

Altitude: 1200–2000 masl

El Cauca Colombia 

They are among the most recognizable and most dynamic in the world, with multiple growing regions whose distinct yet consistently crowd-pleasing profiles reflect the various microclimates that exist in this large country.

We source workhorse coffees from various of these growing regions, looking for a cup that contains a nice balance of sweetness, fruity effervescence, and a foundation of cocoa and/or toffee. Most Gran Galope offerings are a blend of coffees from between 10 and 30 smallholder farms, each with comparable cup characteristics and scores. Coffees from Huila are cupped and purchased in Pitalito; coffees from Cauca are cupped and purchased in Popayán, and coffees from Nariño are cupped and purchased in both Pasto and La Unión. 

Founded in 1927, the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia is a large NGO that provides a wide variety of services and support to the country’s coffee producers, regardless of the size of their landholdings or the volume of their production. The marketing arm of the FNC develops campaigns to push not only international consumption of Colombian coffee but also, more recently, domestic consumption of specifically specialty-grade Colombian coffees. 

The FNC also guarantees a purchase price for any coffee grown within Colombia, which provides some degree of financial security to farmers: They have the option to find private buyers or break into specialty markets, or they can tender their coffee to the FNC and receive a somewhat stable (if also rather standard, influenced by the global commodities market) price at any point during the year. This is designed to eliminate some of the market pressures and provide reliable income to the coffee sector, though it also comes under criticism for disincentivizing the development of super-specialty lots and micro-lots.

The scientific arm of the organization, Cenicafé, is devoted to research, development, dissemination, and support throughout the country. A wide-ranging extension service employing more than 1,500 field workers is deployed to meet and consult with farmers on soil management, processing techniques, variety selection, disease prevention and treatment, and other agricultural aspects of coffee farming. 

We have had boots on the ground (and spoons in the cup) here since our earliest days, and we fall in love over and over again with the regional variations, the varieties, the landscape, and the producers themselves.  From our celebration of the taste of place with Regional Selects from Cauca to the discovery and development of micro-lots from all over the country with our export partners and the producers with whom they work closely—we simply can’t get enough.

These lots are expected to have a balance of sweetness, fruity effervescence, and a foundation of cocoa and/or toffee. This Coffee offers are a blend of coffees from between 10–and 30 smallholder farmers and are traceable to the region. Cauca selections from Huila are cupped and purchased in Pitalito; selections from Cauca are cupped and purchased in Popayán; and Nariño Gran Galopes are cupped and purchased in both Pasto and La Unión. 

Coffee Process 

Colombia is best-known for its Washed coffees. While the processing details might vary slightly from farm to farm or by association, generally the coffee is picked ripe and de-pulped the same day, then given an open-air fermentation in tanks or buckets for anywhere between 12–36 hours. The coffee is washed clean of its mucilage before being dried either on patios, in parabolic dryers, solar driers, or mechanically. Some Washed coffees in Colombia are mechanically mucilage.